snake style

their description of snake style was very similiar to Tony Anthony's it being

Viper consisted of intimidating strikes that could inflict heavy psychological damage by drawing lots of blood without causing life-threatening damage. Its trademark was the tongue strike - two fingers aiming often at arteries and veins. Cobra, in contrast, did not emphasize highly recognizable or showy techniques but rather very serious strikes to nerves and pressure points. Its characteristic hand technique was an open hand with the thumb curled underneath in order to maintain dynamic tension. Python, in addition, relied on the leopard fist for its pinpoint strikes and included grappling.(found 3rd paragraph on site ,note, the stated creation of this site was before the release of Tony Anthony's book)

compared to tony anthonys story, being

" The viper inflicts heavy psychological damage by drawing lots of blood,"Lowsi told me." it's trademark is the tongue strike." He positioned two of my fingers."Aim at arteries and veins," he said, demonstrating the stabbing technique in the air. Next he took my hand and opened it up curling my thumb underneath." This position keeps a dynamic tension characterisitc of the cobra," he said. "the cobra concentrates its stikes on nerves and pressure points." Lowsi went on to explain the way of the python, with its pin point strikes and grappling techniques(pg 38).

his explanation for snake style kung fu is almost word for word of the website,and the website being made before, i guess he copied it

Amazing what turns up

This is pretty strong stuff... clear evidence of plagiarism I think.

I emailed Michael Wright, about a week ago, on the email TA gave, explaining TA has given his email address and listing the summary of questions that aren't answered. Asking if he can help clarify anything. No reply so far.

England ruled Hong Kong between 1950's - 1997 so it is likely that such a thing would have been possible via Hong Kong at least.

No, it was from 1842 to 1997, to travel from HK, into which most folks can go on a tourist entry, into mainland china currently you have to apply for a visa, certain countries of origin are easier to a visit visa for than others, depending on how much china likes them, in those days HK would have been considered another country, in fact these days it's a different area of china and only loosely falls under mainland chinese control.

I think that it would not be too difficult to create a scenario that was possible , regardless of how unlikely it may seam.
For example, went to hong kong and then smuggled on a train in a trunk accross the border by a chinese relative.

Violent Grandfather

Sadly I know a bit about that sort of thing. In Sri Lanka Buddhist monks have whipped up local crowds to attack minority Christians and there has been at least one death as a result. Laos, a Buddhist Country, is one of the worst in the world for religious persecution. Hindu fundamentalists in India have recently killed hundreds in Orissa, India. Physical violence is part of fundamentalist Islam. Some Catholic priests have violated children as we know right now in the news. Being a religious leader, whatever the words of that creed, is not a guarantee of kindness to children. I agree though, an agressive Buddhist doesn't fit the Western image.

I think that it would not be too difficult to create a scenario that was possible , regardless of how unlikely it may seam.

That way lies madness.

Sure there are scenarios one could come up with, but having a 4-year-old white kid running around China at that time in modern history makes it highly improbable. It wasn't that long after the worst years of the Cultural Revolution.

You have to remember that TA claims he's half Chinese, and there are people that believe that despite what they can see with their own eyes. In that respect it's easily possible to concoct some scenario where the young Tony was spirited away to Red China that they will accept.

Email from Tony Anthony – July 2010

TA sent this email in response to questions his publishers forwarded to him. I’ve edited out bits, mostly those that are a repeat of his email of the 6th July 2010. I’ve also added some comments in brackets.

I wonder if he will change his public story.

Dear enquirer,

Grace & peace to you in the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Thank you for the email that you sent to my Publishers, where you flagged up many concerns regarding the validity of my testimony and background.

Sorry to hear about the lack of information on the internet, as well as for the negative smear campaign against our ministry that you have obviously come across. I can confirm that Taming the Tiger is a true life story; however what many people do not know is that many of the identifying details and descriptions in the book have been changed ….You may also find it interesting to read an email that Michael Wright who visited me in prison in Cyprus wrote to a recent enquirer. I hope you find the comments helpful: ----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Wright To:Sent:Friday, July 02, 20104:30 PMSubject: Re: bro Tony Anthony - Re: Taming the Tiger

In regards to Tony himself, I attach an answer that I wrote to another Christian group asking the same questions. I think the answers are still very relevant. They seemed to appreciate the answers. This was written in March 2010.

Please correct me if I am wrong in any of these statements:-Not one allegation of lies or fraudulence put up by Bullshido etc. has been verified to be true.

I do not have any input or involvement with Tony or Avanti Ministries, but I keep in sporadic contact with him, pray for him, and appreciate him… Any who have spoken to me about Tony, have spoken of his humility … That is also my knowledge of Tony.

I did not know anything about Tony's background before I met him in prison. I cannot verify anything about his story before Cyprus prison. I also have absolutely no reason for doubting anything he has said or written about that period of his life.

Here are some facts:-Tony was in prison here in Cyprus in the early 90's. I did visit him weekly for most of his sentence. He did come to know the Lord there and his life was changed.I had the privilege of marrying Tony and Sara in July 1995 in Essex.I keep in touch with Tony and Sara, and my wife and I have had the privilege of staying with them often when we were in the UK.Financially, Tony gives so much to the ministry rather than enriching himself or his family (they live in rented accommodation, they have a small family car that Sara uses, Sara still teaches part-time). I'm sure you will know, that if people want to knock down others, or disbelieve the truth, no amount of verification will ever satisfy. I hope this is of help to you …. rather than whether it can be proved beyond doubt (it can't!!) whether he stroked a white tiger or not.

MichaelI hope the points that Michael addresses are helpful to you. Many of the points that you raised are answered by the material listed above, however I would highlight that we have begun to upload answers that tackle the most common queries that we receive about God's existence - please view our website yourself (http://www.avantiministries.com/faq.php). [Comment: The Q&A was supposed to answer the Questions that haven’t been answered above]
You had mentioned that there are 500 posts from concerned individuals on this particular discussion forum, however many of them are from many of the same people. Also, you may be interested to know that we receive between 5,000 to 8,000 email each year from different people that have been positively impacted by my book. In your email you mentioned that an "author" accuses me of plagiarised their materials. Well if this is what the person believes then it is strange that we have had no direct contact from the person, and they have chosen to express their complaint on your discussion forum. [Comment: Mr P writes on this site that he personally mentioned this to TA who knew the ‘author’]

You mentioned on several occasions that I do not speak any Chinese, and on one occasion you appeared to be contradicting this comment. I can tell you that I learnt a great deal of Cantonese as a child, however I am very out of practice now. I work extensively around the world and especially in South East Asia amongst the Chinese community, and it is always helpful to say a few words - however I do have meetings where I have an interpreter. [Comment: Living in China from the age of 4 to 13, returning to a Chinese speaking mother in the UK and then back to China at 16? 17?18?19? For more training, fighting and World Titles would keep someone in good practice into adulthood, and not just 'having learnt a great deal of Cantonese' but speaking it fluently. Mr P was told by TA personally that he understands a lot more than he speaks. This does not seem to add up]

You also mentioned in your email about a person recently coming to visit me at my office [Comment: Mr P], and our conversation was very pleasant, and we have continued to remain in contact by email. He gave me the impression that he was quite satisfied with my answers to his questions as well as giving him the chance to examine my scars on my wrists (as detailed in my book) [Comment: I understood Mr P saw a mark on one wrist?], however there was a query that he had that I am looking into for him with regards to the timeline communicated in my book during 1987. I intend to get back to him in due course.

….our organisation operate a very transparent operation, that is very giving in its attitude. Our full company Accounts can be viewed on the internet for Avanti Ministries Ltd, …We are supplying people with free books all of the time as and when they request them, and we indeed provide a slip suggesting an amount for a donation should they be in a position to cover our costs for purchasing the books and then distributing them on. We make it very clear that if people can not afford to pay for them, they can have them for free.

Several of the other comments made in your email were untruthful and hurtful - and I have no interest being drawn into a conversation with regards to such matters. [The ‘snake style’ post from the 12th July, showing identical wording from a Kung Fu website written before TA’s book is one comment, and also 4,5,6,8,10 of the Summary Ten Questions posted on the 10th July]

If I could finally highlight that the central focus of my book is in actual fact the good news of how a broken life can be transformed…. On the discussion forum that you mentioned in your email, it appears that this group of individuals have tried to discredit several of our other workers in our Christian organisation along with myself at the forefront, and it makes me wonder what are your motives and reasons. I can not help but feel that you are making a personal attack, and I am very keen for you to know that I do not hold any negative feelings toward you whatsoever. I would be very grateful if you took the time to view the presentation that is on our website as follows:

http://www.avantiministries.com/think.php If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss this further, I would be very pleased to hear from you.